Chapter 13
In the early days of Mrs Annesley’s and Miss Firth’s tenure at Longbourn, the four eldest Bennet sisters soaked up anything they were willing to teach.
Even the mistress of the estate spent time—in private—with the older sister so she could learn both the duties of an estate’s mistress and how to behave in a way which befit her position in society.
The one exception was the youngest Bennet, who tried to resist every attempt to educate her and moderate her behaviour. With the support of both the master and mistress, Miss Firth consigned Miss Lydia to be locked in the nursery anytime she misbehaved.
It took some weeks before Lydia accepted that her mother would not revert back to who she had been and support her like she used to.
In fact, rather than condemn the nasty Miss Firth for punishing her, Mamma praised the governess.
Not only that but her mother, who had encouraged Lydia’s liveliness, kept on insisting on proper behaviour.
In the face of such consistent resistance, Lydia finally began to be open to the lessons.
As soon as she started to cooperate and moderate her behaviour, Lydia discovered that learning was not boring. It did not hurt that, like her older sisters, Lydia was not unintelligent; she had simply hidden that part of herself. An added advantage was becoming closer to all of her sisters.
Mary and Catherine loved their lessons. The former enjoyed the broadening of subjects beyond those Papa had taught them.
As soon as the latter had broken her dependence on Lydia, Catherine had discovered that she was included in the bonds of sisterhood she had witnessed between her three older sisters.
She also realised that it was not her sisters who had excluded her, but she who had not accepted the hand of friendship when it had been offered in the past, all because Lydia had decided it should be that way.
Jane and Elizabeth did not have structured lessons in the way their three younger sisters did, but Mrs Annesley had begun to teach them what they would need to know if they ever entered London society. Part of this was so they would be ready when they would be presented to the Queen one day.
When Mrs Annesley could not spend time with Fanny during the times she was busy with her daughters, she met with both Mrs Hursts either at Longbourn or Netherfield Park.
The older of the two Hurst ladies explained that she too was not born a gentlewoman and had to learn to behave as one.
Leticia—as she requested Fanny call her—related that due to her husband’s work keeping him in London far more than at their estate, her daughter-in-law was more the mistress of their estate than she was.
Fanny had been invited to address Louisa informally as well, and she had granted permission for both Hurst wives to address her as Fanny.
In addition to learning about being the mistress of an estate from Louisa, Fanny began to emulate the way both Leticia and Louisa behaved.
The changes to her behaviour greatly tempered her wont to make vulgar and inappropriate utterances, as well as boastful statements.
However, the biggest change was her ceasing to look at any single male as a potential husband for one of her girls.
Fanny’s best friends in the area, her sister Hattie and Lady Sarah Lucas of Lucas Lodge, could not fathom the changes in her.
They were the two with whom Fanny used to enjoy gossiping.
At the same time, she used to never miss an opportunity to bring Sarah’s eldest daughter Charlotte into the conversation and compare her plainness unfavourably to the beauty of Fanny’s daughters, especially Jane and Lydia.
The fact that Charlotte was a best friend to Jane and Lizzy had never tempered Fanny’s statements in the past.
Lady Lucas was pleased that Fanny had ceased harping on Charlotte’s—she was already twenty—lack of suitors and beauty. Like Hattie, she was confused by Fanny’s unwillingness to partake in gossip as she formerly did.
When Fanny mentioned that she had begun to call on Longbourn’s tenants, her two friends had been shocked beyond measure.
In the past, Fanny had insisted she would never enter one of those peasant hovels.
When their friend mentioned the other tasks she was beginning to take on, like supervising the chicken coop, the dairy, and the kitchen garden on the home farm, the two ladies had almost fallen from their chairs.
“Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?” Hattie asked in wonder.
“All of us, from Thomas down to Lydia, have begun to make changes,” Fanny replied.
“We have a companion and governess…” She related the changes being made, without dishonouring her promise to Thomas that she would not mention anything to do with their much-improved financial position or the land which had been purchased.
“If Thomas and my daughters can all make an effort to be better, how could I not do the same?”
“Lydia too?” Lady Lucas and Hattie chorused.
“Yes. Lyddie is behaving much better and is present for her lessons with Miss Firth,” Fanny declared. She turned towards Lady Lucas. “Sarah, I am aware that Maria did not enjoy spending time with Catherine and Lydia…”
“Catherine, not Kitty?” Hattie interjected.
“Yes, Catherine. Not only does my husband not want one of our daughters named for a cat sleeping in the barn, but Catherine prefers the use of her proper name to being called Kitty,” Fanny explained.
“As I was saying, I did not acknowledge it, but I was aware that your Maria did not relish spending time with Catherine and Lydia, mainly because of the latter. I can now see that Maria, being a much quieter girl, was overwhelmed by Lyddie, and it did not help that Catherine used to emulate her younger sister.”
As much as she was shocked by the changes to Fanny Bennet, Lady Lucas was pleased that she would no longer need to make excuses for Maria when she was invited to spend time with the youngest Bennets at Longbourn, or when they wanted to call on her youngest at Lucas Lodge.
“Sarah, if Charlotte would like to be present with Jane and Lizzy when Mrs Annesley works with them, she is more than welcome,” Fanny offered. “The same is true for Maria to join my younger daughters with the governess.”
Lady Lucas was shocked by the very generous offer.
She intended to encourage her girls to accept and attend lessons at Longbourn.
It would not hurt for them to have added accomplishments.
“Thank you, Fanny. I will pass your magnanimous suggestion onto Sir William, and I am sure he will agree it will be very beneficial for our girls,” she responded gratefully.
Her husband used to be plain William Lucas, owner of the general mercantile as well as two other stores in Meryton.
Three years ago—before the war on the continent had begun—he was the mayor of Meryton, and thanks to Their Majesties making an unscheduled stop in the town, he had received a knighthood.
As the mayor, he had felt it incumbent upon himself to welcome the King and Queen to the town.
Hence, he had made an impromptu and extremely complimentary speech.
The King had been so pleased by what William Lucas had said, he had knighted the man on the spot.
That had led to the selling of his businesses and the purchase of the property he renamed Lucas Lodge.
Lucas Lodge was a small estate which neighboured Longbourn on one side and Meryton on the other.
Her husband had found remaining in trade disgusting once he was titled.
Lady Lucas never pointed out to her husband that since moving to Lucas Lodge their income had gone down.
One advantage of the selling of the shops was that Charlotte and Maria had each been dowered with one thousand five hundred pounds after the purchase of the estate.
In the past, when Fanny had boasted about her daughters’ beauty, Sarah Lucas had told herself that at least her girls had larger dowries, and they did not need to wait until their mother was called home to receive them.
With the offer Fanny had made, Lady Lucas decided that it would be very small of her to think of the disparity in dowries any longer.
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When he remembered the boast he had made about schooling Lizzy in the game of chess the last time he had seen her at Gardiner’s offices, Harold could not help but feel chagrined.
The first opportunity he had had to play chess against her, he had thought he had being magnanimous by playing at less than his full capability.
It had been him who had been schooled. He was yet to beat her, even when he had played every subsequent game to the best of his abilities.
One time, Bennet had removed Lizzy’s queen before the start, and she still beat him.
It was not just her skill at the game, which was great, but she remembered every move an opponent made against her as well. Now, Harold understood why Bennet had been so amused by his statement that day.
At least when he played against Bennet, he did not lose every game. While Gardiner had been at Longbourn after he and his wife escorted the Firth sisters to the estate, there had been a chess contest one day. Gardiner had won, and his prize was a game against Lizzy, which she had handily won.
The day before the Gardiners departed, unbeknownst to Bennet, Gardiner had imparted some intelligence to Hurst. He had learnt about a group of French spies trying to establish themselves as part of London society.
Rather than send a courier with the information, Hurst decided to travel to London himself, which led to the departure the same day as the Gardiners.